Choices Made
by Kalira69
Summary: Naruto has never given up on believing Sasuke will one day come home. Sasuke didn't ever intend to, but it seems something is forcing his hand.


I chose a couple of random prompts from a Sweet Affectionate Moments Meme in hopes of writing some fluff for this pair. Sasuke refused to _fluff_ exactly, but . . . at least it has a happy ending?

I first drafted this while I was just watching the arc with Sasuke choosing to leave Konoha with the Sound Four, so 'canon, what canon?' after that point is due largely to my having very little idea what canon was working towards anyway.

* * *

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke grit his teeth, though he didn't let his hands so much as falter in forming the seals he needed. He would recognise that fucking voice yelling his name even if he was poisoned and more than half-dead. He shaped the last seal and released a fiery wave, and the enemy nin that had been closing in on him fell away, shouting.

The wave wrapped around itself, shaping into a great open maw, a winged serpent that chased after his enemies at his command.

"Sasuke!"

Ignoring the cry, Sasuke bared his teeth and spun, releasing the fiery creature to do its worst upon the fleeing nin until it faded out.

A barely-audible, almost feathery sound alerted Sasuke to the steel flying towards his back, and he flickered out of the way, casting a handful of shuriken before his eyes even found the ninja responsible. The shuriken came close - the fire blast he followed with came closer, burning both of the enemy nin's forearms and patches along one leg.

Sasuke huffed through his nose - that was not what he had been trying for, but well enough - and followed up with more shuriken as the man struggled to master himself in the face of the new burns and the pain they brought. Three shuriken found their mark solidly, one in his throat; he fell and didn't move again.

"Sasuke-sama!"

Sasuke was already moving on as his previous opponent bled into the dirt. He changed directions as he was called, activating Sharingan and analysing the next wave as more enemy nin came into view. There were some stronger opponents closing in now, but-

Sasuke kicked off the branch backwards, one arm coming up and shielding his face from flying splinters as it exploded only an instant after he started moving. His lieutenants yelled for him again and Sasuke huffed, irritated. Were they _completely_ useless without him?

There was enough to keep track of as it was without Sasuke having to fight _their_ battles as well, why did he even _have_ them as lieutenants if they were this useless?

Sasuke bounded up through shielding branches - they didn't have to block _everything_ , only enough to give him breathing room and interrupt line-of-sight strikes - then put his back to a tree trunk as he shaped a series of seals, listening. He came around the trunk and breathed a column of flame at his attacker from close range - the unwary ninja had closed in anticipating Sasuke trying something a little less . . . explosive.

Sasuke smirked and threw a kunai to finish him off as he tried to put out the flames racing over his body, then dropped down to deal with the squad cornering his complaining lieutenants. Sasuke considered, as he dodged one of _their_ attacks that had nearly taken him in the back, if it might not be time to replace them. Again. Not that it wasn't just as much trouble finding _new_ ones. . .

Sasuke grumbled under his breath and left them to it as one of Orochimaru's expendable foot soldiers charged into the scramble, flinging weaponry everywhere with zero finesse.

Personally Sasuke would rather do without them, but there was no point telling Orochimaru that. And the last time he'd mentioned they did more harm than good, leaving him dodging his own allies even more than the enemy, he'd been assigned a squad that had been ten times as bad, likely on purpose.

Sasuke's next strike was forceful enough to send the enemy ninja flying solidly into the nearest tree and lodge him an inch into the trunk with a crunch of breaking wood and bones. Moving on, he growled and flung a handful of kunai at one of the enemy nin he saw winding up to release a jutsu on-

Naruto. Well. Sasuke's mouth twisted. It had still been an enemy, he told himself. He'd been defending his own allies and he'd seen an enemy setting himself for a strike, he _hadn't_ saved Naruto on purpose.

"Sasuke!" Naruto locked eyes with him, half-lowering the kunai he held ready in one hand, and Sasuke glared, looking pointedly away.

There was another ninja approaching him and a barrage of kunai headed his way and he wasn't even looking to be able to deflect them. He was going to get riddled with holes. Again. Sasuke bared his teeth and reminded himself Naruto was _not_ his problem, and leapt off the branch, landing on another enemy nin who had foolishly not kept an eye on the trees.

Any Konoha-trained nin would never neglect that - they learned and fought in the branches until they could _breathe_ it. Especially _they_ had, Sasuke and his team, he thought with a half-sour note, with their. . . He shook his head hard.

He glanced up only after dealing with the new opponent he'd started upon with a crash and found that Naruto had somehow evaded the kunai, or most of them - he had a few new freely bleeding slashes on arms and legs - and was now closing with the ninja who had thrown them.

Sasuke snorted, inspecting the surrounding area before looking back at Naruto.

Naruto spun, his mouth still open around what would probably have been another cry of Sasuke's name, and didn't quite manage to avoid the blow - and this one wasn't a kunai, but the broad head of an axe followed by a bladed chain. Naruto didn't cry out, pulling free the few places the chain had dug into flesh, and missed the silent flight of chakra-threaded rope catching up to him. Sasuke knew that attack, had been practising against it until every fibre of his body ached repeatedly for months, since Orochimaru had first brought the sullen ninja back with him.

It coiled around Naruto, his hands stilled first - no chance of a jutsu or a defensive weapon to protect yourself, that way, and something he had grown more careful about after Sasuke proved he didn't need much space to shape a katon - then spread over the rest of his body as he toppled off the branch he had retreated to while dodging flying blades. The ropes were still tightening, too.

 _Fuck._

Sasuke threw the sword he'd taken off an opponent and didn't bother to watch its flight as it sped towards one of Orochimaru's newest cursed _favourites_. He was slow - he trusted too much in his kekkai genkai, as though the ropes could always save him - it might actually take him in the throat, as intended. That was a pleasant thought; Sasuke had been entertaining thoughts of stabbing him in the throat for months anyway.

Sasuke moved, leaving his own lieutenants behind, rebounding quickly from another thick trunk, changing directions and dropping rapidly. He reached Naruto's plummeting form and caught him in a smooth tumble, continuing towards another tree.

As he pushed chakra to his left hand and the soles of both feet to catch himself - catch them both - against the trunk, flashes of memory played through his mind. Training with his team under Kakashi-sensei. Catching Sakura when she began to fall during a mission. Flinging Naruto unwarily too far when they were sparring on a mission and going after him to arrest his long tumble beyond the cliff.

Sasuke growled, shaking his head to dismiss the memories he didn't want, had tried to shut out. He made to dump Naruto on the branch below them - why had he _saved_ the idiot? - then stopped himself with a growl. He'd _saved_ Naruto already, and it wasn't safe to leave him yet.

A handful of glowing arrows, formed of light and poison, flew towards them, and Sasuke let Naruto drop across his knees and focused on keeping himself clinging to the trunk, Naruto's weight a bulky and awkward counterbalance to work against, as he freed his hands for seals. The arrows were easily swallowed up by another powerful roar of flame, and Sasuke growled under his breath as he shifted Naruto across his thighs, knees scraping against the bark of the three.

He pulled a kunai, watching their surroundings, and then began picking at strands of the bindings wrapped around Naruto. He wriggled a little more, and Sasuke growled at him again, slicing through the sticky, stinging ropes more quickly as more freedom of movement returned to Naruto.

He squirmed. "Sasuke!" he yelped, much quieter now - there was still a woven band around his throat and stretching up over his jaw, and Sasuke wondered briefly if he couldn't leave it there, make life much more tolerable for himself.

Then he reminded himself that Naruto wasn't _part_ of his life any more - not the way he had been once. Now Naruto was only a part of battles, chases, shouting at Sasuke and still trying to sway him.

Naruto and his unshakeable faith that Sasuke would come back to Konoha, would go back to _how they had been_ , even though they'd fought and competed and shouted insults at one another and-

Sasuke ripped the last few loops binding Naruto off him and dropped them, throwing Naruto up to a higher branch and letting himself fall as he kicked away from the tree. A rain of shuriken landed where they had been moments before, even as Naruto howled his name again.

Sasuke snorted, tumbling in the air to kick off feet-first and change directions again, sending a return volley of shuriken before his hands flew through ten quick seals and he had three of Orochimaru's ninja trapped in surging earth. He did not bother to see if they had been trapped too deeply to free themselves before the air in their prison ran out.

Naruto shouted and manifested at least a dozen shadow clones before throwing himself into battle once more. Sasuke sighed and . . . leapt after him, mentally categorising the biggest threats among Orochimaru's forces and realising only after he had moved to take out the only one who could easily counter his favoured katon that he had apparently made a choice.

The nearest ninja fell to Sasuke's blow, choking on his own blood, and Sasuke froze for a moment. Had he really. . .

"Aa, Sasuke-teme! Wake up!" Naruto yelled as he landed in front of Sasuke, batting away a shower of weaponry with a kunai in each hand. "Are you sleeping in the middle of a fight? You really do need me!"

"I don't need-" Sasuke broke off, growling. "I am _not_ , pay more attention to your own safety!" he snapped at Naruto and lunged back into the fight, this time fully aware of _exactly_ what he was doing.

Orochimaru's ninja were still shocked to find Sasuke suddenly against them - amazing, given the level of backstabbing expected or even encouraged among them; he would have thought every one would be prepared for their companions to turn upon them, certainly he had been - and fell even faster than Sasuke had expected. With Naruto and Sasuke fighting together they were soon decimated; he would have to check to be sure, but between their unexpected joining of forces and the prior opponents he didn't think any had even made it away from the battlefield to return to Orochimaru.

"Sasuke!" Naruto almost threw himself at Sasuke, slamming into his chest and locking his arms around Sasuke's back. They both skidded a good distance on their knees in the dirt at the impact. "Don't leave!"

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm not-" He paused. Did he really want to make that promise? The decision, though, had already been made and he knew it. "I'm not going anywhere." he said, resting a hand on Naruto's back, just over one shoulder blade.

Naruto twitched under his hand, then jerked fully upright, staring right into Sasuke's eyes like he was afraid Sasuke would disappear. Sasuke half expected to see him throw his hands up and shout _kai_.

Sasuke's lips twitched at the thought.

"You mean it?" Naruto asked, oddly serious and very fierce.

Sasuke rose to his feet, Naruto scrambling up along with him and not quite letting him loose in the process, though he switched his grip to Sasuke's upper arm. Sasuke didn't pull away, raising a hand to Naruto's shoulder instead, taking him in - unharmed but for a few fairly minor cuts, despite the fall he had taken after being bound, despite the harsh battle before Sasuke had changed-

He grabbed hold of Naruto by the nape of his neck, hard, and yanked him in even closer. Sasuke didn't know himself quite what he was doing before he nearly knocked Naruto back with a fierce kiss, teeth scraping over his lower lip.

Naruto didn't even hesitate, locking his arms around Sasuke and pushing into the kiss in return, almost growling. Sasuke smirked, tightening his arms around Naruto and deepening the kiss, daring Naruto to push back or bite him as his tongue delved into Naruto's mouth.

He didn't, tilting his head and letting out a softer sound this time, his tongue curling around Sasuke's in a rather . . . welcoming fashion instead.

Sasuke faltered, and moments later they had to draw away from each others' mouths so that they could breathe.

Naruto was panting. Sasuke mastered himself enough not to do _that_ , but he was breathing deeply too, his eyes still wide. He stared into Naruto's bright eyes, and Naruto grinned at him, hugging him tighter and nuzzling against his cheek.

Sasuke froze, uncertain. That was- Was _affection_ , not-

"Sasuke-teme, just . . . relax." Naruto said softly, one hand rubbing at the small of his back, and nuzzled his cheek again.

Sasuke huffed. "Idiot." he snapped, but it was a familiar and not particularly heated imprecation. He nipped at the line of Naruto's jaw, and he gave a tiny yelp and scowled at Sasuke, but it twitched and faded back into a grin almost immediately.

"Did you mean it?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing.

Sasuke snorted. "Of course. You've always been an idiot." he said, smirking.

"Yah!" Naruto protested, punching Sasuke lightly in the shoulder. "You know what I meant!"

"Yes." Sasuke said before he could continue. "I'm not leaving." he repeated, poking Naruto's forehead with one fingertip. He snorted, his nose wrinkling up, and tilted his head a little, eyes locked with Sasuke's from so close their breath was still mingling.

Sasuke didn't have any _answers_ , but he waited to be asked why he had suddenly chosen . . . why he had said. . .

"Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?" Naruto said softly, and Sasuke startled. That . . . was not _any_ of the things he had expected to be asked. Or told.

"I. . . What?" Sasuke said weakly.

Naruto wrapped one arm around Sasuke's shoulders and hugged him close again, his cheek brushing Sasuke's with a purposeful shifted of his head to press closer. "I really missed you, teme." he said, voice low. "And no matter what anyone said, _I_ knew . . . you were still our Sasuke."

Sasuke thought about countering, about pointing out that he had left Konoha - his team, his sensei, his responsibilities - of his own free will, had in fact fought to stay away from them for several years now. He thought about telling Naruto some of the _horrible_ things he had seen, had been party to by accepting Orochimaru as his new sensei.

He felt a little sick, and hugged Naruto a little tighter without thinking, in his distress looking for support that for the first time in years was _there_ , given freely. Sasuke swallowed down a lump in his suddenly tight throat and nuzzled against Naruto in return.

He didn't know how Naruto could even think that he could bring Sasuke back, after everything he had done, but he was willing to follow wherever Naruto wanted to drag him.

For now. Sasuke huffed, nose brushing into spiky blonde hair that tickled at his face. He'd argue again when he was feeling less . . . uncertain of himself. Naruto couldn't have his way _all_ the time . . . even if he _had_ been right about Sasuke. A little right.

"I missed you, too." Sasuke admitted, so quietly he wasn't entirely sure Naruto would hear, but unable to say it any louder. Naruto's grip tightened and he made a little choked sound, and Sasuke knew he had heard after all. Naruto pressed his lips to Sasuke's cheek, just above his jaw, and stayed there, clinging to him, like it had been an even weightier admission than it had, and Sasuke . . . let him, holding just as tight in return.


End file.
